Iceland and East Greenland - Day 12-14 (August 16-18)

Latha

August 16-17 We spent a morning pottering around Ittoqqortoormit, looking at their tourist office, museum and local all-in-one supermarket. Whilst Gijs finished paperwork and organised to fill up his diesel tanks( it being cheap here compared to Iceland) Normally you would come along the fuel pump pontoon or wall and fillup your tanks or get jerrycans and fill it up that way. That was not an option here. So we got the boat as close to the shore as we can. The fuel truck came as close to the edge as it could and this long hose was passed to us with the help of Jonathan and Benjamin in the Zodiac. It took a long while. Meanwhile a converted Icelandic fishing trawler decided to take advantage of us being there already and asked if they could raft up against us and fill up their tanks too. That was fun. By the time we both filled up it was 5:00 O’clock and it was time to say adios to Greenland and head back to Iceland, ahead of bad weather approaching from North. It took us 36hours to get back to Isafjordur. The first watch under Gijs had sunshine and saw loads of Sperm Whales, at least one breached By the time our midnight watch started. Weather had taken a turn towards the🥶 (-2). Cooold, foggy and hardly any wind. I don’t remember being that cold for a long time. There is no way to keep ur toes warm. The deck was iced over. So walking to the bow and back was treacherous. The last 2 hours of 6 hour watch were pure torture. Was glad to crawl into warm bed and dream about next watch being warmer. What a difference 6 hours make. The next watch the fog was still there but the wind had picked up and it was decidedly warmer. We got all the sails up and engine was switched off. We were finally sailing, broad reach. It started raining quite a lot. It was worth the price. There was a wobble with the wind as we were nearing Isafjordur fjords and speed dropped to 2.5 knots. We were loathed to start the engine, Jet fiddled with the sails and we got a bit more speed and then we got second wind, bit more sail adjustments and off we go. My favourite watch, stayed at the helm for large part of it. And we were tied to the harbour wall by 4:30am in the morning. 18 August After couple of hours of sleep, woke up for delayed breakfast at 9:30. First order of business to call family to get the birthday wishes and reassure them that all was ok. It turns out, that the yellow Brick road AIS link was not working. So they were a bit worried with complete radio silence. Jonathan had run down to the local bakery to get fresh bread. It meant the crew could lie in after all night sail. Post breakfast, I went to the cafe/bar/lunch place that I had discovered a week ago to enjoy a cup of coffee and chocolate cake, catch-up with friends and all the messages. Brief return to the boat to check the plan( we were staying put due to customs delay) and then back to cafe for nice glass of wine and lunch of Cod fish. Spent couple of hours reading and using their excellent wifi to finish backups. Stephan got us dinner booking in an excellet local fish restaurant. This is a well know restaurant that does set buffet menu of different kinds of fish. Wow it was amazing. I tried fish soup for the first time ever and what a delight it was. It had Halibut and Longustines cooked in a broth of coconut milk and tomatoes Followed by around 5 different types of fish And Cod prepared 3 different ways. It was scrumptious. I tried all of them except the Cod, can’t overdose on Cod 😅 What a great birthday. Starting with helming for the final 2 hours and then into the main harbour whilst sails were taken down. That was nerve racking. As I was just following a heading and could see the headlands coming very close, Gijs had timed it( taking all the sails down) to perfection. Then Gijs tookover and brought us into the inner harbour and along the wall. It was 4:30am. My favourite watch.